Young Conservatives Group Wants GOP To Drop Opposition To Gay Marriage

By
On Top Magazine Staff
Published:
April 17, 2014

A group of young conservatives on
Wednesday launched a campaign to convince the Republican Party to
drop its opposition to gay marriage from the party platform.

The group Young Conservatives for the
Freedom to Marry said it would spend $1 million between now and the
2016 GOP convention on the campaign, titled Reform
the Platform.

“It's time to modernize the
Republican Party,” Tyler Deaton, the group's campaign manager, said
in an emailed statement. “Our aim is to make the national platform
less divisive toward gay people and their families – and more
focused on unifying all conservatives around our core beliefs of
freedom, family and limited government. The future of the Party is
clear on the marriage issue – a seismic shift is already underway
in support of the freedom to marry.”

According to a
Pew poll, 61 percent of Republicans under the age of 30 support
marriage equality.

The group proposes replacing platform
passages in support of marriage as being between a man and a woman
with statements calling marriage a “fundamental personal freedom.”

“We recognize that there are diverse
and sincerely held views on civil marriage within the Party,” the
proposed language states. “[W]e commit our party to respect for
all families and fairness and freedom for all Americans.”

The platform is affirmed every four
years at the party's national convention.